The last thirty years present an astonishing paradox : while the world's richest have seen their fortunes multiply and their share of global income distribution become ever more overwhelming, the world's poorest have also enjoyed a period of remarkable progress. The number of people living in extreme poverty has been halved ; infant and maternal mortality have also been halved ; almost all the world's children now go to school ; diseases such as malaria and HIV-AIDS are much better controlled. These advances are not the result of a few exceptional countries or the unusual generosity of wealthy nations, but of more reasoned and effective policies in many parts of the globe.

But this positive trend is now under threat : poverty reduction has been slowing down for several years ; the Covid crisis, followed by surges in international trade, has plunged many people back into poverty traps from which they thought they had escaped ; pollution and non-communicable diseases, mental distress are all new health risks ; and most of all, the consequences of global warming, which will disproportionately hit the poorest countries, threaten to wipe out most of the gains we thought we had made.

What lessons can we draw from the successes (and failures, too) of recent decades to tackle the problems facing the poorest people today ? How can we combine realism and voluntarism to find a way out of problems that may seem insoluble, but which we cannot afford not to resolve ? This Chair will draw on recent advances in development economics and public policy evaluation methodology to answer these questions and outline a possible response to the global challenges we face.